I made this mistake once when I spent a summer in Ireland in high school. (I should add here that the people at this summer program were noticeably more homophobic than I was used to back home[0]) I had borrowed a pair of "trousers" from a friend for a costume for some event.
When asking permission from the RA later that night to go to a different dorm after lights-out, I told him, 'I need to give <friend> his pants back'.
I will never forget the look of horror that he gave me.
[0] Not sure if it's a cultural thing or just the program I happened to be at, but either way, it's relevant.
Not in any areas of the north I've lived / stayed in. the only people in England who call pants 'underpants' and trousers as 'pants' are those who watch excessive amounts of US TV shows.
I'm from Salford and use pants/trousers interchangeably, have done since I was young. Perhaps this is also due to watching films too, which are mostly from the US over here. I haven't watched that many US programmes in my life time. I don't watch much TV at all really!
I made this mistake once when I spent a summer in Ireland in high school. (I should add here that the people at this summer program were noticeably more homophobic than I was used to back home[0]) I had borrowed a pair of "trousers" from a friend for a costume for some event.
When asking permission from the RA later that night to go to a different dorm after lights-out, I told him, 'I need to give <friend> his pants back'.
I will never forget the look of horror that he gave me.
[0] Not sure if it's a cultural thing or just the program I happened to be at, but either way, it's relevant.